Coffee Break Languages
122 episodes listed below
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Learn French in coffee-break lessons from the Radio Lingua Network. In each lesson we'll focus on the language you need to know and before long you'll be making yourself understood with native French speakers. Season 1 lessons are for absolute beginners, and the courses increase in difficulty as the seasons progress. 386357 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · August 2026
Coffee Break French pairs close grammar explanation with idiom-level nuance across a serialized story and numbered lessons, better suited to learners past the beginner stage than to newcomers.
Coffee Break French teaches through guided conversation, with hosts working through a stretch of French together: reading a line, translating it, then taking it apart.
You get cafe-drama French with the grammar receipts tucked beside the espresso.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A dialogue-led French lesson makes depuis easier to hear in context.
Coffee Break French shapes Lesson 72 around a dialogue, then uses it as a clear route into grammar. David, Christina, and Jean-Jacques give the scene its conversational frame, but the real focus is depuis, prompted by Christina saying she has been learning French for two or…
A restaurant exchange becomes a focused lesson in listening closely and using everyday French naturally.
Coffee Break French builds a compact review around a restaurant exchange, using it to train close listening rather than simply translate a scene.
A focused phone-call lesson that turns a wrong number into useful French and clear grammar practice.
Coffee Break French makes a French phone call feel like a manageable speaking task, building the lesson around standard phrases for asking someone to wait and handling a wrong number.
Story-led advanced French that keeps the language grounded in a cafe narrative.
Coffee Break French settles into an advanced, story-led lesson built around a cafe scene, following the narrator through the people and moments that shape it. The structure is clear: the full passage comes first, then a detailed breakdown, then the passage again.
A rainy cafe scene that makes the subjunctive feel practical, not abstract.
Chapter 3 of Coffee Break French Cafe keeps the grammar tied to a rainy-day scene. Jerome arrives soaked and explains that his beach bar has taken on water, and the lesson uses that moment to show why eviter que takes the subjunctive.
John McWhorter and co-hosts trace English etymology, grammar shifts, and idiom origins episode by episode.
Héctor and Beto dissect Mexican grammar, slang, and news in native-speed Spanish conversations.
This episode continues the narrative series set in a French café in Brittany, following characters like Monique and her dog Milou while teaching French through real-life scenes.
This mini-episode teaches five popular French idioms involving the word 'main' (hand) to help learners improve their French language skills.
This episode of Coffee Break French presents a French-language story set in a coastal café, continuing character narratives from previous episodes.
This episode continues an upper-intermediate French learning story set in a French café, introducing characters and previous plot points while preparing listeners for the sixth chapter of the narrative.
This episode continues the Coffee Break French Café story, recapping Jérôme's new postman job and his daily routine using the imperfect tense, while celebrating the podcast's 18th anniversary.
This episode continues a French language learning narrative set in a café, following characters like Jérôme who now wears a postman uniform.
This episode presents the second clue in a virtual treasure hunt across Europe, featuring a French-language riddle that hints at a specific city.
This episode introduces Season 2 of a French learning podcast that uses a story set in a French village café to teach language through character interactions, vocabulary, grammar, and listening practice with slow and normal-speed versions.
This episode kicks off a virtual treasure hunt across Europe with French clues, starting with a poetic riddle about a European capital.
This final episode of a mini-series presents a French riddle clue in a treasure hunt, with hosts translating and analyzing it to determine the destination.
This episode reveals clue number two in a French-language treasure hunt competition, analyzing the vocabulary and grammar of the poetic clue to help listeners solve it.
This episode continues a virtual treasure hunt across Europe, revealing the third clue in French to help listeners follow along and potentially win prizes.
This episode presents a slow reading of a French dialogue scene set in a café, following up on previous events and preparing listeners for language practice.
This episode continues the narrative from a French café setting, discussing character developments and love stories from the previous episode while providing language learning through dialogue.
This episode explains the meaning and cultural context of two French proverbs involving gold, starting with 'La parole est d'argent, le silence est d'or' (Speech is silver, silence is golden).
This final episode of Coffee Break French follows the Villages Sans Age festival in a French café, showcasing community activities and concluding the 10-week story.
This episode presents a French language lesson from Coffee Break French, featuring a dialogue about a flood in a beach bar and discussing the language elements within it.
This episode continues the Coffee Break French series with lesson 2, focusing on listening to and analyzing French language content.
This episode launches an advanced French learning series that follows a narrative story set in a village café.
This episode presents a French language learning scene set in a café, where hosts Hélène and Marc discuss characters Jérôme and Ségolène's relationship and work situation before listening to the dialogue.
This episode teaches French vocabulary related to shoes, including types like sneakers and boots, in a quick language lesson.
This episode explores the sensory experience of Christmas markets in France, focusing on their festive atmosphere and traditional foods like mulled wine and tartiflette.
This short episode explains how to compare nouns in French using 'plus de' and 'moins de' with examples like 'plus de filles que de garçons'.
This episode continues the Coffee Break French Scenes series with a dialogue-based lesson in French, following up on previous storylines about characters like Fifi and Aurore.
This episode presents the third clue in a virtual treasure hunt across Europe, featuring a French riddle that listeners can solve to find a location.
This episode explains the usage of French relative pronouns lequel, laquelle, lesquels, and lesquelles, including examples and grammatical rules.
This episode introduces a virtual treasure hunt across Europe where listeners can practice French by solving clues to win a free month of language lessons.
This bonus episode explains the clues from a treasure hunt series, focusing on Berlin landmarks like the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, and TV-Turm.
This episode offers practical tips for maximizing language learning through small, consistent daily moments, inspired by the host's travel experience in Slovenia.
This episode of Coffee Break French features a dialogue about Jérôme's job interview experience, presented as a language learning lesson with listening practice.
Mark introduces a new 10-episode French language learning course called 'Scenes from the Coffee Break Café' that combines podcast episodes with structured lessons in the Coffee Break Academy.
This episode explains the difference between the French expressions 'grâce à' and 'à cause de', focusing on their positive and negative connotations respectively.
This episode shares five practical tips to transform travel into an immersive language learning experience, applicable to learners of French, Spanish, Italian, or German.
This episode continues a French language learning story set in a café, where hosts Marc and Hélène recap previous events and begin reading Chapter 6 about characters Monique and Romain.
This episode explains the tradition of Saint Nicolas, celebrated on December 6th in parts of France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium, as a festive holiday for children.
This episode explains the French tradition of les vendanges (grape harvest), covering its importance in winemaking, timing, and regional practices.
This episode teaches French weather expressions and idiomatic phrases for daily conversations, focusing on the impersonal construction 'Il fait' and common examples like 'Il fait froid' and 'Il fait un temps de chien'.
This special episode of Coffee Break French provides an overview of the podcast's history since 2007, discusses all available series and resources, and helps listeners determine where to start based on their French language level.
This episode explains the pronunciation rules for the letter H in French, covering silent and pronounced cases with examples like 'philosophie' and 'chocolate'.
This episode presents a French language learning scene from the Coffee Break French Café, where characters discuss previous chapters and introduce new elements in a conversational setting.
This episode teaches French expressions for talking about holidays and time off, starting with the phrase 'faire le pont' for creating long weekends around bank holidays.
This mini French lesson explores the word 'tour', explaining how its gender (masculine or feminine) changes based on meaning, with examples like 'la tour Eiffel' for tower.
This episode explores the surprising Austrian origins of the croissant and how it became a symbol of French culture.
This episode continues the French language learning story series set in a café, focusing on character developments and upcoming events.
This episode continues a French language learning story set in a café, focusing on vocabulary and listening practice through dialogue.
Max shares a glimpse of his family's French Christmas Eve dinner tradition, focusing on the festive apéritif with wine, champagne, and light bites.
Mark and Pierre-Benoît reveal the fourth and final clue in a virtual treasure hunt across Europe, involving French-language hints about a city with musical, architectural, and cultural references.
In this French lesson, hosts Hélène and Marc continue the story from the Coffee Break Café, where rainy weather affects business and introduces new characters like bartender Fifi.
Max from Coffee Break French teaches listeners common French slang words and expressions used in everyday conversations to sound more natural.
Coffee Break French lesson 72 uses a conversation between David, Christina, and Jean-Jacques to teach “depuis,” “se débrouiller,” “comment ça se fait que,” and related French expressions.
Coffee Break French lesson 71 turns a restaurant-directions mix-up in Villefranche-sur-Mer, six kilometres east of Nice, into a French listening exercise.
Coffee Break French lesson 70 teaches phone-call French through vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and a dialogue involving Marc, Anna, and Julie.
A French language lesson teaching vocabulary and grammar for hiring a car, including verb conjugation of 'conduire'.
Coffee Break French lesson 65 teaches when to use the relative pronouns qui and que in French sentences.
This episode teaches how to form the perfect tense in French using être as the auxiliary verb, focusing on the verb 'aller'.
This episode teaches French perfect tense formation, focusing on irregular past participles.
This episode reviews French verbs including regular ER, reflexive, and irregular verbs for beginner learners.
Coffee Break French lesson 42 teaches regular -ER verb conjugation through a daily routine involving leaving home, arriving at work, eating lunch, and returning home.
A French language lesson for beginners featuring a beach conversation between a mother and her daughters.
This episode teaches French phrases for dealing with hotel problems, focusing on vocabulary like 'room' and 'small'.